Thank Heaven for Little Libs

Since birth, Libby has exhibited a quirky and easy-to-love personality. The kid is happy 99% of the time and seems to have endless energy to expend while skipping around, making her siblings laugh, and running around like a real-life windup toy all day.  Even when sick, she has a sweet disposition and just wants to cuddle with mom or dad.

Finding the video below recently made a ton of memories come flooding back.  Despite being adorable -  Libs is THE kid no one wants to mess with in our house.  When she turns to the dark side, watch out.  Hell hath no fury like Elizabeth Dolores scorned in Quadville!

  

In any case, we love the many faces of Libby.. 

Mischief 

The Suck-Up =)

Rose-cheeked happiness

Angelic and Content (with Uncle Mike)

Guilty...but cute

"Stinkface"

Not Amused

Knows she's winning points with Dad
(seriously - she's the only one who will sit and watch a game with me.)

In Love
 (with every cartoon animal/stuffed pet she meets)

Pure Joy

Libs - we hope your smiles never fade and you keep your love for life.  You make it fun for everyone around you!

101 Ways to Hug it Out

With Gen out of town this past week (hanging with the Steece gang in TX), it's been a welcome chance to bond with our quartet.
After 6 days with them, one thing became abundantly clear:  They love to hug.  It's not a new observation by any means - heck, they've always been affectionate kids.  But trying to navigate the town with them and their daily schedule is a hilarious and endearing pattern of sincere embraces.  I tried to count how many hugs they doled out over the week, and lost track after the first hundred (seriously).  A few examples include...

• Their classmates at school.  
• Their classmates' parents at school (hey - if their hugging goodbye, why not join in?)
• The staff members at the gym.  Front desk, managers, the guy who runs the juice bar, and of course - they're favorite people in the kids club.  
• Coaches, players, parents and dogs out at the soccer fields.   
• EVERYONE on campus at Gen's school.  Faculty, staff, students - you name it.  
• Our waitress at the restaurant Saturday night.  In her words "My lord, that made my week!"
• Our pharmacist (we've seen her alot the last few months!)  
• The man who serviced our car at the shop.  Boy, they were not happy with me for not being able to run over and thank him.  But we settled on a quick fist bump and wave instead.

I'm filled with pride each time someone compliments how affectionate and outgoing they are.  While we agonize and stress over every minute area of development and educational milestone, it's nice to see the important areas where they excel.   There's no doubt this is 100% a result of Gen's influence (anyone who's met her can attest) and I'm an even prouder Dad tonight looking back on a fun week of witnessing it in full force.  

Hope you all had a great weekend.  Hugs from Quadville.  

Parents of the Year..

Every so often, Gen and the kids stop by the soccer fields on their way home.  It's nice to be in one place as a family, even if I'm coaching.

In addition to running around with "the big kids," our gang loves the challenge of scaling the mini-goals.  Russ is our natural climber, while the girls all give it the ole college try - but prefer to excel in their own respective areas.  Caught this video as we were wrapping up the night, and we've had quite a few laughs watching the end of the clip over and over.  Impressed with the little man's determination, but feeling a bit guilty for the lack of attention paid to Ally =)  Classic, classic, Ally.  

Video Vault: Don't Stop Believin'

Found this clip the other day while backing up my semi-broken phone (yep, had to eat some SERIOUS crow with Gen after Libby dropped mine and required a replacement).  I'd completely forgotten all about this morning from a few months back.  Makes us realize how lucky we are to live in a time where we can capture moments like these from our phones.  That, and the fact we have so much more material to hold over our kids' heads when they're older.  Thankfully, our parents didn't have the same luxury...


When things get hectic in our house, music can be a welcome distraction.  Good thing, the kids were raised on the classics, and Journey is one of their FAVORITES.  Hilarious to watch this clip and see each kid's unfiltered personality personality shine through.  Have we mentioned that Ally loves the camera?  

Video Vault: Jingle Bells

Back in December, the kids participated with their class in the annual holiday program.  Despite the all-school program being cancelled (music director fell ill), the youngest group carried on with a few of their own numbers.  Two weeks of preparations for a few minutes of glory.  

A few observations:

• The room contained more mobile A/V equipment than most press conferences. Lots of proud parents, grandparents, and friends in attendance.
• Libby - small in stature, shy in group settings, but hilarious all day long.  Smiling sweetly and singing along, the kid embraces the role as youngest sibling well.  
• Ally - although she's stoic on the clip, Ally is a born performer.  She sings ALL DAY LONG.  After this program, she politely informed us "next time, I'd like to sing on the stage....but alone.  It'd be easier to hear me that way".  We worry about her confidence =)
• Molly - the first "hey!" chorus illustrates her approach to life.  Love it.  Love her.
• Russ - the video doesn't do justice illustrating his indifference.  He mouthed about every fifth word, and was more concerned with getting to the desert buffet afterwards.  He has his priorities.

Enjoy this rendition of "Jingle Bells"

Pneu more Pneumonia. Please!

Since Thanksgiving, we've had one constant in this house:


Russell John battling pneumonia.


We're currently on bout number 5, and sprinkled in between the girls have cycled through viruses and respiratory bugs as well.  Not a fun way to spend the Fall and holiday season for anyone, and can't count the amount of school and functions we've missed as a precaution.  It's nothing new, as viruses creep into his lungs and linger much differently than the girls - always have.  If we had a nickel for every breathing treatment and oral steroid this kid has been on... we'd have a ton of nickels...

Caption Needed...

That whole picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words thing make sense, but for some reason we keep drawing a blank on an appropriate caption for this gem.  Thoughts?

Escape from Alcatraz?